Backyard Animals: Alligators

Alligators are a type of animal known as a reptile. Reptiles are cold-blooded animals that have scaly skin and vertebrae. Alligators can live on land and in water. They have long bodies and very strong jaws.
Alligators have different ways of keeping their body at the right temperature. If an alligator wants to cool down, it enters the water. If it wants to get warm, it sits in the sunlight on land. At night, most alligators stay in the water because the water has been warmed by the sun all day.